Feeling Down-Help To End Low Moods And Feelings Of Hopelessness

“There is always a door, no matter how dark the room is, find it and get out.”― Shafqat Bashar

It can be hard being a person and we all need a bit of help at times, because everybody deserves the right to feel good, joyful and be at peace.

Because once you can get to the other-side of your fears and your negative thoughts of limitation and self-sabotage you will find that you are unlimited, worthy and deserving of all that is good.

If you have any negative beliefs and mental programs that are making you feel bad then you are free to release them and change them with new, better and healthier thoughts.

Our thoughts, programming and beliefs control us and to demonstrate this we all have a critical and negative voice that pipes up and tries to self-sabotage us with negative statements that start off, like.

You cannot do this or that

You're stupid

You're no good

You'll never

No body will ever love you

I told you you could not do that

You're a waste of space

It will never work out for you

Here's the truth! That inner critical, negative voice, is not you because you can feel good and you can achieve almost anything you want with the right positive self-talk and the right thoughts.

Because adversity does not mean things cannot get better and negativity and fear are not the only choice or way to perceive things.

Because for every negative thought and limiting belief there is always a better and more positive opposite way of thinking and believing and if you are prepared to change your thinking and look into some of the other reasons why you feel low, then you're life can get better and better.

"There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn't"

Your mental wealth and well-being matters

According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that around 121 million of people worldwide are affected by depression and low feeling moods.

Feeling down or experiencing prolonged periods of low mood can be quite a complex issue that can involve the whole body system so it is important to work with your doctor and for you personally to try and find the possible hidden cause of your depression.

Because there maybe some underlying root but not so obvious causes, that are making you feeling down and what are perpetuating the continuation of your low moods and feelings of emptiness.

Life is not easy, in-fact it can be very cruel and unfair at times and everybody goes through some very hard and upsetting times or bad things happen to them but you have to know that you are way more stronger and resilient than you think.

When the whole world seems to be against, when you're feeling down and out and when things go really bad for you and the stress, upset, heartbreak and emotional overwhelm becomes too much for you to bare.

Then the only real choice that is left is for you to try and use those hard and challenging times to raise you up and inspire you and drive you on to something better.

So you can approach the rest of your life with a much different perspective and determination because there is really only one way to go now and you must not allow anything to stop you from moving forwards and up.

Otherwise depression and mental health issues can drain the life out of you, crush you, crush your dreams, crush your growth and crush your productivity and ability to live a joyful, meaningful and fulfilling life.

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Feeling low, unhappy and despondent is a state of mind and body that you can get stuck in and when this happens it can create a self-perpetuating and self-fulfilling feedback loop and cycle where your thoughts trigger more negative feelings and your feelings trigger more negative thoughts which can create negative beliefs that can affect your reality.

As we go through the day, everybody's mood fluctuates and changes and each and everyone of our moods produces a different energetic frequency and brainwave pattern.

However, those people who feel low or depressed a lot tend to remain stuck in a low energetic feeling mood and brainwave pattern which can make it hard to lift yourself up and feel good.

Thanks to latest technology and feel good boosting music and sound-waves you can gently coax your body and brainwaves to mimic those good feeling emotions.

Which can quickly transform your mental and emotional states to those blissful and peaceful feelings and emotions at a push of a button.

Seek help but also help yourself

If you do suffer with severe and persistent low moods, feelings of emptiness and low moods and anxiety and they are very often both closely linked then it is important to speak out or to get help.

I understand that the sometimes, the last thing somebody with chronic low moods and mental health issues is to go to talk about it or open up.

Very often the exact opposite will happen and instead of acknowledging it and admitting it. Many people with depression and mental health issues will either shut the door more or even deny it or say they are fine.

Even though on the inside you may feel distanced from the rest of the world and you may feel stuck in dark and lonely void of depression, emptiness and hopelessness.

If you're like many other people with depression, then you will probably try and hide it from everybody else, perhaps this is because of all the perceived stigma, your pride or the feelings of embarrassment.

Some people may even appear to have a good quality of life, but sadly on the inside they are painting a completely different picture of their reality and themselves.

Depression shows no mercy to anybody and you can have all the material possessions and the seemingly perfectly life on the outside. But if you are broken on the inside then it will mean absolutely nothing to you.

Helping yourself

If you have hit rock bottom, you feel suicidal and you can see no way out. Then you should seek immediate professional help because with the right help and support you can get better and you can turn your life around.

Depression is a state of mind and body and all states can be changed. It can take understanding, time and persistence but that time and effort is essential for your quality of life, wellness and well-being.

If you keep on taking small steps in the right direction and you keep making small progress by doing the right things on a daily and consistent basis then this time next year you and your life can be so much better.

I have heard many depressed people say that there is no way that they will speak up when they're feeling depressed but it can really help to make that first step and give you a big sense of relief.

If you really don't feel like seeking help then there is a lot of good advice about and there a lot of things that you can do to help yourself.

Depression and low mods can leave you feeling empty, lethargic and devoid of energy, you will probably also be lacking in motivation, optimism and enthusiasm.

Because of how down you feel, you might find it a struggle for you to motivate yourself to get out of bed in morning or you may even tell yourself, what is the point of you getting up.

You might even feel that sleeping is the only time you can escape from all your pain and suffering and all the things that you used to do with ease, can now seem like a major challenge for you.

Sometimes you might think that your situation is hopeless and it will feel easier not to bother or make an effort.

During these low feeling states, it is important to be aware that your depression and you low feelings and emotions are dominating and running the show and this is not the real and true authentic you.

We tend to speak, perceive our lives and act by our thoughts and emotions and it is important to be mindful that this is not who you are at source.

At the moment, your depression has become your most dominant feelings and mindset that is driving all your perceptions, actions and behaviors.

Low feelings and positive and calm feelings are polar opposite ends of the energetic scale and it is impossible to feel optimistic, motivated, energetic and inspired if you're in a very low feeling emery state.

This is why it is so incredibly important for you to try and pinpoint the cause of your low moods and to try and change the feelings because when your feelings change, your thoughts and life will change.

Although I would never advocate people getting angry. If you are stuck in a very low feeling state then getting yourself a little bit angry every now and again, can help to pull you out of those low feeling states.

Once you have changed your state from feeling low to a bit angry, then focus on thinking better feeling thoughts.

You cannot just leap from feeling very low to feel ecstatically joyful in one jump

Overcoming depression is not something that is going to happen instantly, because it is a process that may require making many lifestyle changes which is all about taking one small step at a time.

If you're depressed then you probably won't be able to rely on motivation to get you out of bed in the morning or to get you to participate in things that are going to uplift and help you.

This low feeling state and pessimistic mindset may have become your new accepted normal at the moment.

To get you moving in the right direction you may have to rely on sheer willpower to literally force yourself to think differently and do all the things that you need to do to help make you better.

Again your thought processes and perceptions are a mirror reflection of your feelings and emotions which can make you overthink everything, until you talk yourself out of doing what is needed to be done to help you get better.

Depression and anxiety can drain all your energy and leave you feeling mentally and physcially exhausted which can make it hard fro you to motivate yourself and think yourself out of depression.

This is a two way process and if you have been overworking or doing too much physical work or activity where you are feeling burn-out or overly stressed then this can lower your mood.

Any progress is progress and it can be helpful to force yourself to smile every hour for a few minutes and make an effort to think about a happy memory or time you once had.

To get the momentum going, sometimes it is better and easier to work on changing your feelings and emotions first to give your body some well needed relief from all that stress and anxiety.

Listening to upbeat or deeply relaxing music can help boost your mood and meditation and self-hypnosis are great ways to overcome your problems and help you to feel calm and relaxed.

Each morning, read some positive quotes or buy a poster which is full of happy, positive, motivational or happy quotes and hang it somewhere you can see a lot.

Although you may feel empty on the inside and devoid of energy. If you're waiting and hoping for the right moment or you're hoping that things will get better by themselves, then that moment may never come.

It is hard to do things when you feel depressed, but it is necessary to take action to get over your feelings of depression so you can move away from the dark and move towards the light.

Try and avoid giving yourself labels because your body will respond accordingly to the thoughts that you have and the words that you speak.

Especially those labels, tags and affirmations that have a negative at the end of the words. "I feel or I am," such as:

"I feel low"

"I am depressed"

"I feel unhappy"

"I am unhappy"

Although you probably think that you have nothing to feel positive or happy about, you can feel good by simply using powerful and positive words"

"I feel fantastic, now"

"I feel joyful and at peace, now"

"I feel great, now"

"I am willing to think differently now"

"I am willing to believe that I deserve joy and all the good things in life"

"I can choose to think differently now"

"I can choose to feel better feelings, now"

"I can choose to experience and live a better life now"

"I feel calmer and more joyful, every single day now"

To start off with, your low feelings will trick you into thinking that you're lying but persevere as it really can help you.

The best time to say your positive affirmations is first thing in the morning and last thing at night as you're about to fall asleep as this is the time your mind moves into the calm receptor theta state where your mind stops playing and it starts recording.

Creating a positive timeline

A technique that can help you to drum up the enthusiasm and motivation so you can move from negative thinking and negative energy to good feelings and a life full of meaning and fulfillment.

Is to for you to create yourself a positive goal that is going to have a positive impact on you and your life so you can create something good and you ca have something worthwhile that you will enjoy working on.

Having a goal that you want to achieve can take your awareness of the thoughts that are keeping you stuck and making you feel bad.

Doing this will also give your mind a positive intention, blueprint and path to follow, you can even make feeling good and at peace a part of your goal.

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not people or objects” ~Albert Einstein.

Finding and pursuing a purpose or setting and working on a goal or a passion can give your life a new sense of meaning, giving you something positive to focus your mind on.

Many people set goals with the intention of achieving an end meaning or something that they want or feel they need.

This is actually the wrong way to approach a goal as it can make the journey and action work tedious, frustrating and not very enjoyable.

The secret is to try and enjoy the journey and the action work because the doing should be made and enjoyable part of the process.

Every time you hit a problem or you feel like giving up, see it as a challenge for you to overcome and remind yourself of the reasons why you set your goal in the first place.

As you begin to achieve your goal and as you begin to get positive results then you will start to to accelerate the positive momentum.

This will help you to form new positive habits and behaviors. Seeing the positive progress that you're making will help to further inspire you to on wanting more.

Keep working on your emotional well-being and wellness until feeling good and calm becomes your new naturalnormal.

You can write, your goals down, on a piece of paper and add in, how you want to feel and what you would like to achieve, in a months time, three months time, six months time, a year from now.

Having a positive psychology and physiology

According to numerous scientific studies, positive feelings and emotions have long been associated with better health, increased levels of self esteem, greater well-being and it can even add years to your life.

On the flip side, stressful feelings, negative thoughts, worry and negative emotions have be linked to low moods, depression, low self confidence and many other health issues.

For some people however, it can prove hard for them to find things the think positive about and it can be hard for them to sustain a positive psychology.

At the start it will take a conscious effort to make yourself think better feeling thoughts but it is well worth the effort.

Because trying to convince yourself that you feel great or everything is good when things aren't going well or you don't feel it, then the chances are your negative feelings are going to win.

It is especially difficult to think positive when you're mindset is negative and you're telling yourself the exact opposite as this is going to cause two contrasting beliefs.

The better way of doing things might be to work on changing your feelings and learn how to release all your negative thoughts and let go of all your negative feelings of resistance so you can move back to a state of calm and inner peace.

With a bit of mindfulness, plenty of rest and relaxation, combined with making some new positive habits, lifestyle changes and behaviors. Before long you'll soon learn how to develop your inner strength and you'll be able to harness the power of feeling good, without a reason.

Feeling good, thinking good feeling thoughts, living in the moment, living a healthy lifestyle and developing new positive habits and behaviors, should be a new way of living.

We cannot always control, everything that happens in our external world, but we all have total control over how we want to feel, how we choose to react and how we choose to perceive a situation.

One of the greatest lessons in life is learning how to bounce back quickly from adversity. We all have to face upsetting and difficult times, but except from a few exceptions to the rule our external situations can only hurt us once, the rest of the hurt comes from how we perceive the situation.

After a negative experience all the hurt and suffering goes inwards and it then gets driven by how we perceive that situation, how we react to it or how long we allow it to negatively affect us.

The quicker you can accept what has happened or the sooner you can accept that you cannot always escape a bit of emotional suffering, the quicker it will pass and the quicker you can let it go.

It is OK to have a bad day, it is OK to feel upset, disappointed or frustrated. If things aren't going well or you're facing adversity but you want to avoid from staying down for too long.

Do not try to suppress or push away your thoughts and feelings as this will cause you to hold onto them and it will make them stronger, more frequent and more intense.

Allow yourself to feel sad feelings, allow yourself to feel anxious thoughts and feelings and allow your mind to experience all unwanted thoughts without being judgmental of yourself and without reacting and engaging in them.

Our thoughts and feeling should always be allowed to flow freely through us so let them in, let them happen and let them go then say or think something positive. Because when you do, they will pass bye more quickly.

Stand, sit and move with ease, poise and the least amount of tension

When we think about positive feelings and emotions. Most people associate it with having a positive attitude and mindset and of course, these are tremendously important in your bid, to feel great.

Because of the mind and body connection it is equally important to have a positive, calm and balanced posture and a relaxed physiology.

Because everything is better when we feel good and our life force energy is flowing freely around our body.

Stress and tension in the body will block that free flowing energy and make you feel very uncomfortable.

If you're feeling stressed, uncomfortable or tense, then this can affect your mood, you will feel uncomfortable and they can lower your spirits and your self confidence.

Tense, stiff or collapsed or out of aligned postures, can have a negative affect on your mind and how you feel.

Slouching and standing or sitting out of alignment and balance can lead to low confidence emotions, anxiety, sadness, low feeling moods and thoughts of insecurity and negativity.

It is equally as bad, if you stand or sit in stiff and tense postures, the key is poise, relaxed muscles, good alignment and balance so you stand, sit and move with the least amount of tension and effort.

Never try to physically hold yourself in position, forcefully pull yourself up or stand or sit up to straight or to tall, as this will only cause more tension.

Learning the Alexander Technique is a great way to restore poise, grace and balance, other good techniques that might benefit you are yoga and "Tai Chi".

The more you can reduce your stress and start to slow down and release any tension so you handle and do things with the least amount of tension.

Show some self respect, self love and self compassion, to yourself

Sometimes we are just too hard on ourselves, sometimes we won't allow ourselves to make mistakes, sometimes we set our standards to high, sometimes we forget, we are only human and sometimes we try to be too perfect, in an imperfect world.

Trying to be perfect and not accepting yourself, not accepting that you're going to feel uncomfortable at times, is the quickest way to make you feel anxious and low.

You can only do your best, and that's all you need to do.

Ask yourself.

How do you react or how do you treat yourself when you fail to achieve a goal, you embarrass yourself, you get things wrong or you make a mistake.

If you're the type that beats yourself up, when things go wrong, if you're the type that reacts badly to external situations and you hang on to things, that you should really let go of.

If you're the type who overly criticized or you judge yourself harshly or you negatively compare yourself to others or maybe, you're the type who tries to be perfect.

Then it is time to show yourself a little bit of self respect, self love and self compassion, and it is definitely time for you to start to, take it a bit, easier on yourself.

Because, learning to accept yourself, forgive yourself and spending a lot more time encouraging, nurturing yourself, praising yourself and being a little bit more compassionate, can do wonders to your health, life, self esteem and well-being.

Those who show themselves a bit of self compassion, support and kindness, and you are your best teacher and healer, have been known to lower their anxiety levels and lift their depression.

We all make mistakes, we all hurt and we all suffer emotionally, the key is to be mindful to the times when they're struggling, hurting themselves and emotional suffering and give yourself a break and show yourself a bit of self love and self compassion.

Having a knowing, that, everything will be OK, everything will workout fine and you will start to feel better.

When times get tough, try and change the feelings and take good care of yourself.

Accept and forget about what is, what has happened or what might be, and feel it and let it go and then do something that you enjoy or have some me time where you indulge in a few little luxuries or feel good techniques.

Take some time to relax

Listen to some relaxing music

Have a massage

Give yourself a treat

Have a long bath

Exercise

Go for a walk

Have a healthy and nutritious meal or smoothie

Another good way to process any negative feelings and emotions is to grab a piece of paper and write down about anything that happened during your day, which made you feel sad, unhappy, depressed or anxious.

Spend some time focusing on what you thought, how you reacted and how you felt. If someone or something, annoyed, mistreated you or upset you.

In writing, describe the situation and again, how you thought and felt, but try not to blame anybody, including yourself or the situation you find yourself in.

You can then, praise yourself and write down, how you would have liked to reacted, what you would like to have said or how you would like to behave in the future.

During those times, when things go wrong or bad for you, give yourself some empowering words of self compassion and encouragement.

Speak to yourself and advise yourself, how you would if you were trying to uplift, praise or encourage, somebody else, who was experiencing, what you're going through.

Not caring what others think or say about you

Some people suffer with low self esteem and low self worth, which can later manifest into feelings of depression.

Because of a negative or bad experience or because they have been subjected to verbal abuse or negative suggestions, which have been said, about them.

Over dominant or critical parents, can also cause a sense or low self esteem and feelings of not being good or worthy enough.

Some people become so low and depressed, sometimes to the point of suicide, just because of the nasty or critical things that have been said or written about them.

This can leave you fearing what other people might say or fearing what others think about you.

The moment you start to worry, fear or allow what others think or say to negatively affect and bother you.

You then start to lose who you really are or you will become the self image, of how others define and shape you.

What happens then is, you might tend to become and behave, how you think you're expected to be or you might begin to conform to the perceptions of others.

This can lead to different types of behaviors or characteristic changes, which could severely affect your self esteem and your belief in yourself.

Or you may find that you start to change, conform to the norm or isolate yourself, in your attempt to avoid any further abuse, ridicule or harsh and hurtful remarks.

When this happens, you start to lose your true authentic self and you begin to become, the version of yourself, that others have defined you to be.

This can lock your stuck in a self imposed prison, which can prevent you from expressing yourself or being the person, what you want to be.

Because of the fear of what other people think or say or because you have bought into the negative beliefs and the negative suggestions, that other people have said about you.

People are very sensitive and all too trusting of what other people say or think, because if other people have said something about us, then we automatically accept it as being true.

If any of these kind of things have happened to you, then you have a few choices to how you respond.

You can:

Withdraw yourself from the rest of the world

You can accept it as being true and allow it to define and destroy you as a person

You can decide to not care what others think and you can start to change the way you react

Although, the words and opinions of others, can be very hurtful and emotionally and psychologically damaging to you.

As the old saying goes:

"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me"

One of the best ways to set you free is to not care about what other people say or think, and never allow others to negatively shape or define, who you are as a person.

At first it can be hard, but try not to buy into the negative beliefs, opinions and suggestions of others and try not to allow it to affect you, just let it go.

Because, if you allow others to affect you and bring you down, then you will begin to lose your powers and you will begin to hand, all your powers over to others.

How you react or how well you receive the abuse or negativity will either destroy you or motivate and inspire you, to make you and your life better.

Negativity from others or yourself, can destroy and bring you down, but you can also use it to empower you, make you wiser, stronger and successful.

Once you no longer care or give a toss, what other people think or say and once you decide how you want to define yourself, is the moment you take back your power and set yourself free.

Look after your body and change the feelings

You often here people that are depressed or anxious, and many people who are depressed, also suffer with anxiety, worry and stress.

Therefore, you may benefit tremendously, from learning how to reduce your stress and anxiety.

Those who are depressed are broken and mentally and physically exhausted on the inside, therefore, bit of deep relaxation and healing, can do wonders for your emotional well-being.

To further add to the problem, many depressed people, often go off their food.

This can cause you to lose weight and cause you to become depleted of the essential vitamins and minerals that your mind and body need to feel energized and happy, leaving you feeling weak.

Years of depression can deplete you of all your energy and leave you feeling like you're running on empty and when you're running on empty it can be hard to motivate yourself to get over your depression.

Life can be tough and a struggle when you're feeling depressed, the mere thought of getting out of bed, can be a daunting task and challenge.

Although you may have your own responsibilities and you may feel like you have some issues that need addressing.

You may also feel like all hope has gone, because that's what depression can do to you, because we tend to think by our emotions and physical state.

What is of utmost importance now is, taking care of yourself and building up your inner strength, resolve and optimism.

Because it is hard to get over depression if you feel void of energy and you need energy and strength to help you get over your depression.

So you can start on your journey to recovery, get your life sorted out and go on to achieve amazing things and have the wonderful life that you fully deserve.

This is going to take time, because recovery is progressive.

But to begin with. It is important to focus on your basic needs like drinking enough water and you need plenty of highlynutritious foodsand plenty of rest and relaxation.

You also need to start to love yourself more and more each day, with the knowing that you are good enough, worthy enough and equal.

By addressing these root causes, your energy levels will increase, you will begin to feel better and you can start to build your strength, so you can move forwards and upwards.

Because when your body is energized, fully rested and strong, you will be able to begin your journey to a better you and a better life.

If at the moment, you have lost your appetite. Then you may benefit from having a nutrient dense smoothie or take a vitamin and nutrient supplement.

"For each day you feel sad, a day of happiness lost".

Appreciate yourself and life

When people are depressed or they are feeling stressed or negative.

They spend so much of their time focusing on the worse case scenario they they forget to focus on inner peace, the beauty of nature that surrounds them and all the good that is and what can be.

And in this negative focus, they miss out on all the beauty, good and happiness, that can be found within our own surroundings.

Sometimes we try to hard to compete, impress and keep up with our friends, work colleagues and neighbors.

Or we put all our attention and desires into having the best cars, most expensive holidays, more money, better circumstances, better living and the best of everything.

To such an extent that we stress ourselves out and sacrifice our own well-being and health for by working longer and longer hours to obtain all those material possessions.

That we neglect ourselves and our basic human needs.

On top of all this we are bombarded with pictures of super and glamor models and successful people, which can leave us feeling insecure and feeling not good enough.

Life can make you feel that you not good enough, you need to improve or you feel as if you have to compete with everybody else or it can make you wish that you were more like them.

But you have not got to feel inadequate and not good enough.

All you have to do, is do and be your best. And you will be your best, when you totally and unconditionally accept yourself and you give up trying to impress or compete with others.

Accept, who you are, including your height, your personality, your looks and even your weight and begin to appreciate yourself and your life.

At the moment your main focus is your health, your well-being and creating a happy and compelling future.

Because there is no need to impress or compete, because your destiny and happiness lies in your own hands.

And it is just as easy you know. To focus on the good things and tell yourself some new optimistic and feel better life stories as it is to focus on the bad and predicting the worse life stories.

Each morning and evening, stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself, repeatedly, things like:

"I love and approve of myself"

"I love myself, so much now!"

"I am good enough"

"I am worthy enough"

"I am attractive enough"

"I am lovable"

"I now love, honor and accept myself, unconditionally"

Creating a wonderful new future

Whatever your situation was that triggered your depression. You have probably had many negative, self destructive or pessimistic thoughts like.

Nothing ever works out for me

I am ugly

I am worthless

I am a failure

I will never find a boy/girlfriend

I will never get another job

Nobody will ever love me

Life is not worth living

What's the point

I am worthless

The best days are behind me

Our mind works by telling us and depicting stories that match our feelings and are based on, how we react to and how we perceive our current situation, which run over and over in our minds.

And when you're stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts your mind will look for evidence to try and back them up.

The more you start to believe in your negative, self destructive and self sabotaging thoughts the more evidence you will find to back them up.

This leads to self defeating behavior and actions which is what traps you into a vicious cycle of feelings of hopelessness which becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

If you convince yourself you're doomed for failure, then you will become a victim to your circumstances and your mind.

On the other hand, if you convince yourself life can get better and you can be happy and successful, then you will begin to change your direction that will lead you to better things.

These negative thoughts are not true neither are they a true reflection of who you really are, they are just thoughts.

The negative thoughts and stories of your mind need changing to their positive opposite.

Because things can get better, but before things can get better you have to think differently and feel better.

Sometimes depression can make you want to isolate yourself from the world.

But, even if you're alone or you shut yourself away.

You cannot escape from your constant barrage of negative inner self talk, which will carry on dragging you down and lying to you, until it is changed.

Imagine if you had a young child, what types of things would you say to them to help them build their self esteem and to encourage them to go on to live a happy and successful life.

Would you continually say negative and hurtful things to them that would make them feel bad?

Would you tell them they are never going to amount to nothing and would you keep on saying bad things that you know is going to lower their self esteem?

You would try and support them, encourage them and say and do things to make them happy.

So, why say these negative types of thing to yourself?

Perhaps people close to you have said bad and hurtful things about you?

But, whatever anybody has said negative about you, are not true and you should never allow anybody to define who you are and what you're capable of achieving.

Negative thoughts and beliefs will lead to failure and stagnation and your self destructive thoughts can even make you sink deeper down.

They will trick you into believing that you're not good enough, worthy enough, deserving enough or capable enough, causing you to lower your expectations of yourself.

If you do not believe in yourself, then your limiting beliefs will prevent you from taking the actions that are necessary to rebuild your life and achieve wonderful things

Negative thoughts will disempower you tremendously and they will drain all your energy and suck the life out of you.

Other people's negative remarks and suggestion can temporary bring you down and diminish you, if you buy into them. But, the only person that can really diminish you in the longterm, is yourself.

Every time you think a negative thought you will strengthen the neural pathways and connections which will make those negative feelings stronger.

Positive self statements about yourself, however will empower you tremendously and it is just as easy to say nice and positive things to yourself.

Live in the now

If you're currently in a bad situation or you're in a desperate state and feel as if you have hit rock bottom with know obvious way out.

And you're looking for a breakthrough, but you're finding it hard to think positive thoughts at the moment.

Or if you have just been through a painful or bad experience and you find yourself constantly reliving your painful past and you keep saying things to yourself like.

"If only thoughts or I wish I had done things better or differently types of thoughts"

When people feel low or things aren't working out for them. They tend to revisit their their past and dwell over the good times or things, that they once had, but they have now lost.

If this is the case. Then you need tolet go of your negative past that has all the negative emotional attachment associated to it and stop depicting a bleak or hopeless future as that just prolongs your suffering.

All your power exists in the now. The past has gone, and it is now just a memory and the future is just a perception of our mind, which has not happened yet.

We only have the now, and your immediate goal should be to bring yourself back to the peace and calm of the now and try and hold yourself there.

Learn to love yourself unconditionally and learn to live your life in the now, because you can only feel bad when you step out of the now.

Ditch those thoughts of self hatred, and start to like and be nice to yourself.

The now is all you need to take care of and it is all you will ever have, everything else is just a perception of your mind.

One of best ways to bring yourself back to the now is to find things to be grateful for. At the moment, you might think to yourself, what have I got to be grateful for.

But, you can always find something, like:

The air that you breathe

The food in your fridge

The sun

The water that you drink

Your family and friends

The internet

Your phone or computer your on

All the good that is coming your way

If you look, then there is always something that you can find to be grateful for, no matter how bleak your current situation is.

We create the way we feel from our point of the now, and gratitude, love and appreciation will help to change the way you feel.

So if the now is where all your power lies, why choose thoughts that you know are going to make you feel bad and diminish you?

What is there to gain, by choosing thoughts that are going to make you feel bad and miserable?

You cannot change your past, but you can instantly change your now.

You may find this hard to start with, but you have to deliberately force and train yourself to find things to be grateful for or make yourself think better feeling thoughts.

Like

"Things always workout for me"

"Things are getting better"

"The best is yet to come"

"I free myself from destructive fears and doubts"

"I am good enough, i always have been and I always will be"

"I love myself and I already have everything I need to be happy"

"I accept my power"

"All is well in my life, now!"

"I am in charge of how I feel and today, therefore I choose to feel good"

"Today, good things will happen"

"I feel calm and at peace, now!"

"I feel joyful and lovable, now!

Try not to attach any conditions to your better feeling thoughts. Choose general good well-being thoughts.

Because the good thing with general good feelings thoughts are, you do not need a reason to think or say them and they will make you feel better without having a reason.

At times of adversity, say this quote repeatedly by Louise Hay

"All is well. Everything is working for my highest good. Out of this situation, only good will come. I am safe".

Start to drop the T out of the word. " I can't" and change it to "I can or I can learn how to".

Begin and end your day with gratitude, self love statements and thoughts of joy and optimism and practice bringing yourself back into the now, whenever you notice yourself drifting out of it.

Write, five things each morning, what you're grateful for, down on a piece of paper, starting with:

Today, I am grateful for .....

Other ways to stay in the now are by engaging in things that you enjoy doing or take up a new hobby or interest.

Painting, arts and crafts, photography, reading are all good ways of engaging you in the now.

Looking after your body and nurture your mind

Try and get as much sunlight as possible (Be careful not to overdo the sunshine without protection or sensible clothing).

Sunlight can help to lift your mood as can be in the outdoors. Many people start to feel sad as autumn begins to fade and winter sets in.

In the winter months, if you can not get enough sunlight. You may benefit from taking a vitamin D supplement.

"All seasons are beautiful, for the person who carries happiness within"

Horace Fries

Vitamin D is often known as the sunshine pill and it is thought to be one of the most important vitamins that is vital to help maintain the healthy functioning of the body.

Vitamin D is also believed to be essential for good bone health and other benefits.

Vitamin D is also thought to be important vitamin to help boost the immune system, which may explain why people tend to suffer from more colds and flu outbreaks during the winter months.

Various research has also suggested that there might be a link between a vitamin D deficiency and psychological issues such as depression or low moods.

Vitamin D has been linked to help support the healthy and efficient functioning of the brain, especially as it is thought to help promote the release of the feel good and happy endorphin "serotonin".

Avoid listening to sad music. Better still, listen to upbeat music, as music can affect our moods. Also avoid watching anything negative or sad on television.

Many good things happen each day all around the world, yet the TV pumps out so much negativity, bad news and fear.

Try not to listen to much to negative news. Watch as much comedy or funny TV or films, as laughter is a great feel good tonic.

Even smiling for a few minutes at a time, can help to boost your mood. Our mood responds to our facial expressions and body.

Keep active and set yourself a goal, that is going to give you and your life a sense of meaning, preferably, something that is meaningful to you, so it will inspire and energize you to get up in the morning and give your something positive, to work towards.

When you set goals that are meaningful to you which fall into alignment with your highest values and passions,

Then this will prevent you from giving up, and it will help to motivate you, when have to face and go through the pain barriers and tough times, making it easier for you to overcome any problems, difficulties or challenges.

Be proactive and teach yourself to positively respond to any negative situation and experience, give your mind something active to work on and fill your mind with positive affirmations, self talk and soothing and encouraging, self statements.

Setting aside some me time each day to relax deeply, will help repair and restore your body, especially if you're feeling, worried, stressed and exhausted.

Self hypnosisis a great way to help relax your body and mind and help you change all those negative emotional attachments and negative patterns of thinking.

If you slouch or stiffen, lean back, allow your body to collapse or you bend forwards. Then this can put you in a negative state.

Don't dwell on your negative memories and try to surround yourself with upbeat and positive people, only call to mind positive and happy memories.

Happiness is a state of mind and body, that you can learn to cultivate, step by step.

"Knowledge of what is possible, is the beginning of happiness"

G Santayana

Think of all the great things that can and will be.

If you're feeling real downbeat. Pray or ask the universe for help and guidance, because always remember, you're never alone.

Pray for help and strength to help you come through the storm, because with faith, energy and strength you can beat your depression.

Letting go of sad memories and grief

Recalling and reliving traumatic, sad or negative experiences can trigger the onset of depression and low moods as can dwelling on how great things used to be or dwelling on something you had, but you have now lost, and you want it or them back.

When you constantly relive your painful past or what's gone wrong, you can soon become a victim of your history, instead being the creator of your destiny.

The stress, anger and anxiety and the constant self torture of a traumatic or negative experience can lead to exhaustion, overwhelm, chronic fatigue and eventually depression.

But it is not just traumatic or negative experiences that are responsible for depression.

Sometimes what was once a happy and enjoyable experience can turn into a bad or upsetting memory.

If you have lost someone or something that you loved and adored.

Like a loved one, a close family member or friend or even family pets, or you have just gone through a upsetting relationship breakup.

Then, that someone or something that once made you so happy or brought you joy, can now cause you great sadness, grief and a deep senses of loss, emotional pain and sorrow.

When there is so much emotional hurt attached to losing someone so close and dear to you.

Then that hurt and sadness can prevent you from remembering all the good and positive times and memories you had together.

They say time is a great healer. And although as time passes, things do get better.

The last memories you have of your loved ones, will now be painful ones, because of the sad feelings and negative emotional attachment that has been linked to them.

You can learn how to reduce the painful emotional attachment away from your bad memories, so you can enjoy remembering the good times without the emotional or you can move on if you're going through a relationship breakup.

Start off by doing the simple things

Sometimes the way out of depressions is to first focus on the simple things and by making small simple changes.

Gradually begin to introduce yourself back into doing some of the things that you once used to enjoy.

It is highly unlikely that you're going to make a quantum leap from feeling depressed to feeling happy.

Often it can be more of a case of, making gradual and steady progressive improvements, and to begin with, any improvement is a step in the right direction.

If you have been depressed for a long time now, then it may prove hard to motivate yourself, so at the start you may have to literally force yourself to make some positive and subtle changes.

Getting outside in nature can make a big difference to you and how you feel, so try to go for regular walks and just observe the calming effects of nature, or just sit or potter about in the garden, because gardening can keep you occupied and lift your mood.

Planting and growing things can give you a sense of achievement, and just by making small changes to your life on a consistent daily basis, can give some meaning back to your life and help you to lift the fog of gloom.

When you decide to do some new things, be mindful as your mind will try and stop you, sometimes you just have to go and do it, to help to motivate you, play some happy music and switch off any sad songs.

Art and crafts or generally using your creative mind and your creative abilities in a positive way, can help improve brain functioning.

If any negative thoughts creep into your mind just let your negative mind know that they are not going to stop you and just ignore them and proceed, because the more you think about something the more you will talk yourself out of doing it.

Doing relaxing things that you like or enjoy can distract you from your depression and it can allow you to give your mind a chance to settle.

Try to be mindful of all the things and thoughts that start to make you feel bad, do not try to repress your feelings, just acknowledge them, feel them and then focus on something that makes you feel better.

Tell yourself, "Yes, I am feeling sad at the moment, how I want to feel is happy and calm", tell your mind to give you feelings of happiness and joy.

If you notice yourself slipping back into a negative state, immediately start to turn things around or do something that will distract you before the fog of doom and gloom has a chance to descend.

As your inner strength and energy starts to return, you can turn your hand to planning and doing bigger and better things.

Setting yourself some goals can give you a sense of purpose, just keep yourself occupied and keep on building on your successes.

There is always another choice

In life we have certain expectations, standards and emotional needs.

Having a good income/job, happy relationship, hobbies and social life are a few examples of our emotional needs and when we think our emotional needs are not being met it can lead to us feeling down and sad.

People begin to feel down and dis-empowered when they think they are in a situation that they cannot escape from but the reality is, you're only in the mindset of you cannot escape from or change your situation.

If you're depressed, you may feel your life is going nowhere or somehow you are stuck in a boring job or an unfulfilled relationship where you're just going through the motions with no purpose or direction.

Sometimes depression is a time where you need to identify your emotional and personal needs and think about a change of direction.

People often get depressed when they feel they have lost something or there is something missing or lacking in their life.

You may feel life is passing you by quickly where you have hit a plateau in your life or it could be due to your daily repetitive and mundane routine.

If you have had a good thing and lost it, then you can slip into a downward spiral, but just because you have hit bad times does not mean you cannot bounce back and do even better.

Sometimes people achieve their dreams and needs, but because they only plan for the short term.

When they reach their wants they have no further plans, goals or direction so they keep themselves stuck in the same old groove of life for such a long time that eventually they become stagnant and slump into depression.

There is always another choice or another way to perceive and respond to a situation, there is always an alternative, better and more positive way to think to every bad situation and a few setbacks does not mean it's the end of your world.

The trouble often starts when we allow things on the outside world to influence our internal representation of our inner reality and what we think is possible or not.

Sometimes things we don't like and bad things happen, what you have to be careful is how you choose to respond and act in your outside situations and circumstances.

You may need to introduce a bit of meaning and purpose in your life to keep your focus to worthwhile causes and things that will occupy your mind.

But although you need to pursue your passion and find your purpose to give your life more meaning, you need to enjoy what you're doing instead of doing it for the money or because you think you should do it.

We all set goals and we all have a certain level of success, targets or achievement that we work towards and is a good thing.

But sometimes when we want something so bad we try to hard and lose sight of the enjoyment and when it does not happen straight away or if we have a slight setback, it can have an adverse effect on us and leave you feeling even worse than before you started your goal.

Anxiety, stress and depression

There is a lot of debate about whether or not the source of people's depression is caused through a chemical imbalance or a negative state of mind.

In a way both these cases are right because if you have depression then from a physical perspective you will have a developed a chemical imbalance or more importantly an emotional imbalance.

What people who suffer with depression need to find out is what actually triggered the chemical imbalance in the first place and what is keeping it on going, because if you dig deep enough you will find that there is usually an underlying root cause of your depression.

Normally there is a reason and a trigger that initially activated the chemical imbalance and the negative state of both mind and body. It is pretty clear that many of people's depression is more than just chemical imbalance.

Stress and anxiety can deplete you of your energy which can leave you feeling physically and mentally exhausted and burned out, which can lead to low feelings.

If you suffer with general anxiety, then it is important to learn how to manage and minimize the discomfort caused by youranxious thoughts.

Depression is also a physical condition and negative state of being so the physical and emotional side of things will also need addressing.

There is nothing wrong with taking antidepressants especially to begin with as it can help to restore your chemical imbalance so it is advisable to work with your doctor, but medication won't fix what's wrong.

If at some point you decide to come off your antidepressants you should always check with your doctor first, because if you just stop taking them you can suffer with withdrawal type symptoms.

Try and be more optimistic

When you'redepressed itcan feel like hard work just to get out of bed in the morning so trying to motivate yourself to get active can feel like a mountain to climb, but mountains can be climbed.

A lot of people who are depressed think they have nothing to live for and they believe their situation is beyond hopeless, but you should never give up hope because having hope is an important part of your recovery.

Going from depressed and living the life you don't want to feel joy, happiness and living a fulfilling life will be a journey and all journey's take time but the sooner you start your journey the better.

Your recovery will probably involve some physical action and changes, but before you think too much about making those necessary changes you should first focus on your emotional side.

Some people who are depressed are wrongly labelled as being lazy, this is not true, depression robs you of your drive, motivation and energy.

One of the main qualities of happiness and success is energy, if you feel as if you have no energy you will find it hard to motivate yourself.

You need to build up your energy to help you to fight your depression, a good healthy balanced diet is essential, exercise can only help even if it's a brisk walk observing nature.

If you have been depressed for quite some time, then you may have fallen into the trap of thinking you have nothing worthwhile to live for and you may have convinced yourself your best years and life experiences are in the past.

But just because one chapter of your life has gone or is over does not mean you cannot start a new and exciting adventure of self discovery as well as pursuing some new opportunities and challenges.

Seeany challenges as a lesson to be learned and obstacles that you need to overcome and use your failures and adversity as an opportunity to grow and be better.

You need an energy shift and that cannot be achieved unless you introduce hope into your life and once you can find hope with the knowledge that everything willwork outOK, then you can transform that hope into positive expectations.

Every thought that you think, carries an emotional response or frequency. Negative words have their own frequency as do positive ones.

Words like hate, had enough, no good, can't, nothing works out for me, unlucky etc, all carry a negative energy as do positive words like, love, enjoy, look forwards to, grateful, etc.

Love is a very different frequency to hate.

States like depression and anxiety are one band of frequency as are love, enjoy, calm and happiness.

When people are stuck in states of depression and anxiety, you often here them say things like.

" I feel so heavy today"

" I feel so low, empty and lethargic"

The reason why you feel like this is because your mind and body are stuck in a low vibrational and slow frequency state, which causes your bodies energetic field, to enter into the low vibrational and bad feeling, energy frequencies.

When you feel happy, calm and full of joy, it is because you have shifted out of those dense and heavy, slow vibrational states and you have entered the free flowing, higher vibrational, good feeling energy frequencies.

In these higher vibrational states, you will feel lighter, calmer, happier and you will have more energy and enthusiasm.

The positive and good feeling thoughts, will help you to get into those good feeling energy frequencies as will having a positive physiology, getting plenty of exercise and deep relaxation.

Try to replace thoughts of doom and gloom and pessimism, with thoughts of hope and optimism.

Remember, pessimism is only a perception, and there are always better ways of perceiving things, than negativity and worry.

The best is still to come

People slide into depression when they convince themselves the best years are behind them and if this is the case, then you need to shift your attitude too.

The best days are still yet to come and there will be better times ahead, because you don't have to follow the beliefs, idea's and rules of everybody else.

Pessimism and negative thinking fuel bad feeling negative energy, but the good news is hope and then optimism will begin to switch you to better feeling energy.

At the moment you have probably got a whole lot of negative momentum going on.

It's all about getting the positive momentum going and then keeping it going. You're not going to switch from feeling depressed to feeling blissfully happy overnight, but at some point you need to change the way you see your world and your future and develop some positive optimism.

Depression and negative thinking emotionally and physically drain your energy and dis-empowers you, but positive thinking and optimism will empower you and bring the sparkle back.

To help you being to move out of your depressed state and that's all it is a state you need to shift your mindset from despair to hope and once you start to realize that there is hope you can go to the next level which is positive expectation and optimism.

Positive expectation not only shifts your energy from negative stagnant energytopositive energy, it also helps to create new and more exciting realities. All of your current beliefs and feelings are being influenced by your previous life experiences both good and bad.

If you're feeling depressed, then your situation and how you feel most of the time is being shaped by your bad experiences and perceptions, but you have not got to live your life in the past orbyyour current circumstances.

We are all responsible for our actions, lives and feelings and when you open up your mind to new possibilities you will open the door to a new and better reality.

You will also need plenty of rest, relaxation and a good night's sleep, if you are physically exhausted, then you need to take it easy for a while.

Become more proactive

Try to increase the amount of activities you frequent in, making more social connections in your life is also helpful so is keeping your mind occupied with worthwhile interests and activities.

Making the shift from depression to joy will take time, but if you take daily action steps then bit by bit you will begin to improve and feel better.

If you're single try and find a new relationship, if you're out of work look for a job, even consider doing some voluntary or charity work.

Helping others can help you to feel good, when you help others, it can lift you as you become rewarded for helping others withbetterfeelings.

It helps to develop a more optimistic outlook, because optimism and pessimism are both a choice, one will leave you feeling low and the other will lift you and give you new found hope, when you have hope you will find optimism and soon your life will begin to take on a new meaning.

Go virtual to change your energy

Your imagination is a powerful tool, it will make you or break you, no doubt you have been told a countless amount of times to think positive thoughts, but that is not so easy if you are stuck in a negative place and a sense of hopelessness.

Many depressed people struggle to find something positive to think about, the good news is, your nervous system cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is made up.

This means you can take full advantage of this, so if you cannot find better feeling thoughts, make something up pretend everything is getting better, just make it up because it's the positive emotions that you're searching for at the moment and not the perfect and ideal life, that will come later.

Remember the good things you can imagine are limitless, so create an ideal virtual world to start with and keep returning to it. Have you ever dared to imagine things going well and everything working out right for you for a change.

If you start to project a happier,more brighterfuture thenyour subconscious mind will start to pull you in the direction of that better life.

Move up through the emotional scale

You're not going to jump from depressed to blissful happiness overnight, but the sooner you begin your journey and you get the positive ball rolling the better, the pendulum can only begin to shift to feeling good when you choose and decide to take back control.

Thoughts and feelings go together they mirror each other, so try and be careful not to allow your current emotions and thought processes to keep you locked into the believe that things are always going to be this bad.

Make yourself look beyond the worst case scenario because there are always two ways to perceive a situation, no matter how bleak it may appear.

It can help to get angry just to bring you out of that low feeling, mood, you should not make a habit of this, but doing it a few times can transform you out of the energy state of depression.

Once you shift to anger, try and then jump to a betterfeeling moodthen keep going until you reach a more positive state of joy and optimism.

Each day try and think of some better feeling thoughts, it will take time to move up through to the positive emotions range but it is a process you need to do.

You need to get the positive momentum going and then you need to keep those relaxed positive feeling.

Eat a good healthy and balanced diet

Although environmental and situational circumstances and events may be the root source of some people's depression, recent research now suggest that the underlying root cause may be directly related to inflammation of the gut and bad bacteria found in the gut.

For a long time now Doctors and nutritionists have recognized that there is a direct connection between the brain and the gut and by starting to listen to your body and paying close attention to your digestive system and what you're eating, you may soon find out that you can improve your mood.

There are certain things that you can do to help you to begin to reduce any bad bacteria in your gut and cool down excess inflammation.

The trick is to aim to cultivate good bacteria in your gut and to start to cool your gut down.

Some foods that can cultivate good bacteria are believed to be:

Broccoli

Probiotic supplements

Yogurt thatcontains lactobacillus acidophilus

Sauerkraut

Blueberries

Kale

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Bananas

Fermented plant-based foods

One way to begin to restore balance in your gut and cool the flames of inflammation is by cutting back on some of the bad foods and foods that are hard to digest and starting to eat more whole foods and healthy nutritious foods.

Some of the low in nutrient foods and the chemical compounds that can be found in some processed foods can be hard for our body to break down

Some studies have suggested that you can significantly reduce your depression by cutting back on some of the low in nutrient processed foods or foods that cause inflammation.

Because of the mind and body connection, it is important to take care of our body, our physiology and the food we eat can have a big impact on how we feel.

Try and eat a good healthy and well balanced diet full of fresh fruit, plenty of vegetables and whole grain foods plus the daily protein requirement.

Eating healthy foods with good carbohydrates will keep you energized and it will help regulate your moods.

During population studies, it has been suggested suggest that allergy sufferers are more likely to have depression than people who do not suffer with allergies.

But it is not just seasonal allergies that have been linked with depression, some experts also believe that food intolerance and food sensitivity can trigger bouts of feeling depressed and feelings of lethargy.

It is stated that just because you have an allergy does not mean you are prone to depression, but it could explain the reason why some people who appear to have everything they want in life still suffer with depression.

If you are suffering depression or you're feeling lethargic for no apparent reason, then it may pay you to visit your doctor for a food intolerance test.

This does not mean you have to cut out all the foods you enjoy because it may only be one specific food that is triggering the reaction.

You may need to find out what foods make you feel bad and then try and eat more of the foods that make you feel good and less of the ones that make you feel bad.

Omega-3 fish oil is believed to be good to help improve your mood and a omega 3 deficiency has been linked to inflammation and depression.

Some experts now suggest that we are getting too much omega 6 fats and not enough omega 3 fats.

It is believed that too much omega 6 fats can increase inflammation in the body and the brain that can affect our moods and more omega 3 and less omega 6 lowers inflammation and improves our mood.

This does not mean you have to cut out all omega 6 fats, but it can help to re-address the balance.

The brain and the body require a certain amount of fats and proteins, and not all fat is bad for you.

Researchers believe that turkey, chicken, Brazil and walnuts nuts, eggs, avocados and oily fish can all have a positive impact on our moods.

Omega-3 fatty acids are classed as one of the major building blocks for optimal brain chemistry and health.

Although there is no specific set standard for how much omega 3 you should take, the recommended daily dosage for omega three generally seems to suggest, ranging from 500mg to 1000mg

If you are unsure, ask your doctor about the recommended daily dosage.

Foods High in Omega 3 Fatty Acidsare

Flaxseed oil

Seeds

Walnuts,

Fish roe (eggs)

Salmon

Mackerel

Sardines

Tuna

Herring

Seafood

Spinach

Anchovies

Our bodies need the daily requirements of nutrients and vitamins and a lack of nutrients and vitamins as been linked to depression and low moods.

According to new research, inflammation in the body and the brain can be partly responsible for mood swings and depression.

Tests have revealed that people who suffer with high levels of depression have a higher rate of inflammation in the body and brain.

Some of the things that can increase your inflammation levels, are:

Smoking

Excess alcohol

Too much refined sugar

Stress and tension

Processed foods

Too much red meat

Lack of or poor quality sleep

Soya oil

Dairy/cheese

Gluten

Vegetable oils

Too many fried foods

Artificialflavourings/Sweeteners

Saturated fats/too much omega 6 fats

Try and avoid too much processed forms of sugar, dairy and gluten– Natural sugars, grains and dairy products are good for you.

Refined sugars, gluten and processed dairy products have been altered from their natural state.

These alterations promote the development of bad bacteria and drastically reduce nutritional value–leaving your brain starved and causing it to malfunction.

Eat plenty of fats and proteins–Not all fat is bad for you. Researchers believe that chicken, turkey, brazil nuts, eggs, avocados and oily fish all have a powerful impact on our mental state.

Low moods have been linked to a Vitamin D efficiency, which is required for good brain health and functioning. (Check with your Doctor or Nutritionists).

Laughter really is the best medicine

Laughing is still one of the best ways to change your energy into a more positive state, make an effort to smile for at least two minutes at a time, then do this at regular intervals because smiling is known to boost your mood.

Avoid looking down, because looking at the ground can lower your mood, try and look straight ahead with your eyes as much as possible without lifting your head back too much.

Ignore sad films, stop watching the news and try and avoid listening to too many sad love songs. Instead, watch programs that make you laugh and listen to relaxing or uplifting music.

Think back to a memory or time or times when you felt happy or a situation or program that made you laugh and return back to that memory over and over again to boost your mood.

Smiling, for a few minutes, can improve your mood.

More mood boosting tips

If you are stuck in a bad, violent relationship where you have been abused, get out of it, seek professional help or try and get support from your family and friends.

Although we all like a bit of company, when you're by yourself, learn how to like yourself and start to enjoy your own company.

Having a pet such as a dog or cat can help to lift your mood and give you a bit of company, if you get a dog, then you will have the added bonus, of all that exercise you will get from taking it for a walk.

Sometimes in life we have to accept things the way they are and try and make the most of what we have instead of wishing things were better. It's great to have wants and goals, but your happiness and your emotional well-being should not never depend on them.

If you're stuck at home feeling isolated, lonely or bored, try and find things to occupy your mind. We all need a purpose in life, try blogging, enroll in an evening class, join a social media website or you can get more involved with community activities.

Mindfulness is one way to help you in your fight with depression, this involves learning to become more aware of those negative and pessimistic thoughts.

Once you realize the thoughts and your own perceptions which cause the negative feelings you can learn to take no notice of them and let them go. Then switch your thinking to something more constructive or positive.

Make sure you stay hydrated, our body is around 70% water so make sure you drink plenty of water, just don't drink too much in one go.

When our bodies are dehydrated it can switch us into the survival mode meaning more fearful thoughts.

Depression is linked to both the mind and body, it is also caused through exhaustion of both the mind and body.

When you spend months or even years focusing on thoughts of hopelessness it will exhaust you and it will deplete your energy levels.

Sometimes to avoid burnout and exhaustion wehave to learn how to say no, there is a limit to how much time and energy you can devote to others, your own well-being and interests are more important to you than pleasing trying others.

The information on this page is for information use purposes and it is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use this information for the diagnosing or treatment for health conditions. If you suspect that you have a health condition, consult your doctor.